6.  The applicants were born in 1977, 1979 and 2009 respectively and are currently in Sweden.
7.  On 10 September 2007 the first and second applicants, a married couple, arrived in Sweden and applied to the Migration Board (Migrationsverket) for asylum, residence and work permits. Applications for refugee status and travel documents were lodged with written submissions dated 28 February 2008.
8.  The applicants submitted that they had lived together in Tehran. The first applicant is a Kurdish Sunni Muslim and the second applicant a Persian Shia Muslim. They both had a university degree and had been working, the first applicant as a machine supervisor at a car factory and the second applicant as a teacher, before they left Iran. The first applicant had also been a musician, and he used to perform and sing political music for the Kurdish cause in Iran. He had played at several concerts, which had been criticised by the authorities. He had also been an active athlete as an Iranian kick-boxing champion.
9.  The first applicant claimed that he had been politically active in Iran. He had always been interested in the Kurdish issue and had once, in 2003, been arrested and questioned by Etalat, the Iranian security forces, for being involved in a discussion on this topic. Subsequently, he had been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment by the Mojtama Ghazani e Ghods court. He had served one month in Qasr prison, before being released on bail. Despite the sentence, he had been able to keep his job and stay in Tehran.
10. Approximately one year before they left Iran, the first applicant had been approached by a colleague and close friend, who was a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), and asked if he was interested in supporting and working for the KDPI. He had accepted the proposition and started to disseminate leaflets, compact discs and other information about the party and also to recruit new members. He had sympathised with the party but had not been a full member. His only contact with the party had been through the colleague.
11.  On 26 August 2007 the first applicant had witnessed the arrest of a work colleague by Etalat outside their workplace. He had then, out of fear, decided to leave Iran as he assumed that his friend would reveal his contacts under torture. He had left work, gone to the bank to withdraw his savings and then home to tell his wife and to pack their most important belongings. The applicants had travelled first to Karaj, where the second applicant’s parents lived and where they also left some personal belongings and documents, and then to Sardesht, where they stayed with the first applicant’s grandparents for two nights.
12.  On 27 August 2007 the first applicant had called the doorman in their apartment building and been told that four men from Etalat had come looking for the applicants. Etalat had broken into their apartment, where allegedly they found evidence and KDPI-related documents which the applicants had left behind.
13.  On the night between 28 and 29 August 2007, the applicants had crossed the border into Turkey and then continued through Europe by truck. Since coming to Sweden they had been in touch with the first applicant’s father, who had claimed that he had been threatened by Etalat and that they had been searching for the first applicant. On several occasions, Etalat had approached the father in his home and taken him to their head office for interrogation.
14.  The second applicant submitted that she had not been politically involved and that she knew little of the extent of her husband’s involvement in political activities while they were living in Iran. She had, however, helped him to distribute some materials from the party to friends and relatives.
15.  In the initial contact with the Migration Board the applicants also submitted that they had both been politically active in Sweden. They had taken part in several meetings for the Kurdish cause and were also active in news programmes that were broadcast on a satellite channel banned in Iran and on internet blogs.
16.  The first applicant had contacted members of the KDPI when he arrived in Sweden and, soon after his arrival, he had participated in an information meeting concerning the party’s 14th Congress. The applicant submitted photographs of his attendance at the meeting before the Migration Board. He also submitted a certificate issued by the KDPI office in Paris on 15 April 2008, stating that the first applicant was a supporter of the party and that his life would be in danger if he were to return to Iran.
17.  The second applicant had started in 2008 to work regularly for Newroz TV, a Kurdish TV channel which was banned in Iran and considered critical of the Iranian regime.
18.  On 23 May 2008 the Migration Board rejected the applicants’ request for asylum. The Board found that the applicants’ story lacked credibility in several aspects. Leaving the credibility issues aside, the Board also found that the applicants had only been active in the KDPI at a very low level and that only activists higher up in the hierarchy would be of any interest to the Iranian authorities. Furthermore, the Board found that the applicants had not been very active since their arrival in Sweden and had only participated in general meetings.
19.  The first and second applicants proceeded to the Migration Court (Migrationsdomstolen) where they maintained their story and added that several of their friends had been arrested since they had left Iran and the first applicant’s father had received several threatening telephone calls from Etalat. In July 2008 the first applicant had been interviewed on Newroz TV about himself, sports and music, and political activity. The second applicant had started to work for Newroz TV as a translator, newscaster and journalist on a daily basis. She had researched and reported, inter alia, on the hidden mass killings in Iranian prisons.
20.  In September 2008 they had become members of a European support committee for Kurdish prisoners on hunger strike in Iran. Until 9 October 2008, when the hunger strike ended, the first applicant had worked actively to collect support from different NGOs and to spread the information on human rights violations in Iran. The issue was brought up by the European Parliament, on the initiative of the committee. The second applicant, as she could speak English, Farsi and Sorani fluently, had become the universal spokesperson for the committee. During the hunger strike, she had been interviewed by several Kurdish media, Newroz TV and Roj TV and both applicants had participated in debates on human rights violations in Iran on blogs and several internet sites. During another hunger strike in Stockholm, in October 2008, the first applicant had also been interviewed by the Kurdish media, Newroz TV and Roj TV, and both applicants had participated on blogs and several internet sites. They claimed that their involvement with, inter alia, Newroz TV must have drawn the attention and interest of Iranian authorities. They submitted a letter from the first applicant’s father, compact discs containing interviews with them from Newroz TV and several reports and certificates from NGOs.
21.  By a decision on 14 January 2009 the Migration Court rejected the applicants’ request to translate the submitted compact discs containing statements about the Iranian government.
22.  On 3 April 2009 the Migration Court, after an oral hearing of the case, rejected the applicants’ appeal. The applicants’ story about their activities in Iran was considered stringent and substantiated by written evidence and the court found no reason to question the credibility of the story. However, reports showed that mainly high-ranking executives or militant members of the KDPI were subjected to violent acts. It was not considered probable that the Iranian authorities would show an interest in someone at such a low level as the first applicant. Furthermore, the political activities in Sweden had been limited in scope and the applicants had not been able to show that these activities were of any interest to the authorities. The submitted letter from the first applicant’s father and the certificate from the KDPI’s office in France were considered very general or of low value as evidence. Having regard to relevant country information and to the fact that the Iranian authorities were not interested in activities at a low level, the court found that there was no indication that the applicants had come to the direct attention of the Iranian authorities.
23.  On 19 June 2009 the third applicant was born.
24.  Before the Migration Court of Appeal the first applicant additionally submitted that he had been actively involved for the Kurdish cause on Newroz TV, where he had expressed criticism and continuously informed, inter alia, about the situation for Kurds and the severe human rights violations in Iran. He had also been interviewed on TV concerning his own reasons for leaving Iran. Newroz TV was allegedly monitored by the Iranian intelligence services. The second applicant submitted that, in addition to her work for Newroz TV, she had been working for other Kurdish broadcasting services, that she had performed approximately 30 interviews and that she had worked on translations for Amnesty International’s international secretariat in London. They submitted that they had been involved in substantial political sur place activity and that this activity was known to the Iranian authorities.
25.  On 8 July 2009 the Migration Court of Appeal (Migrations-överdomstolen) refused leave to appeal.
26.  Subsequently, the applicants turned again to the Migration Board to stop the expulsion. On 22 October 2009 the Board decided not to grant a new examination. This decision was upheld by the Migration Court on 28 January 2010 and the Migration Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal on 10 March 2010.
27.  In August, September and October 2010, the applicants published several articles in “Kurdish Perspective”. The second applicant argued, in the articles, in favour of uniting opposition groups against the Islamic government of Iran. She argued that there were many racial and religious groups in Iran, all of which were oppressed by the Iranian authorities, who tried to take advantage of this variety and distract opposition activities. Several critical articles were also published on various internet sites.
28.  In 2010 and 2011 the applicants signed several public petitions to free human rights activists in Iran on an internet site.
29.  In 2011, the second applicant was involved in promoting the imprisoned Kurdish Mr. Kabudwand as candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the nomination process, the second applicant was named as a member of the nominating committee on several internet sites. She was interviewed about his candidacy on one of the most popular opposition sites on 15 March 2011.
30.  In Sweden, the first applicant had also become a full member of the KDPI.